Restaurant: Yangji Gamjatang
Location: 3470 W 6th St, Los Angeles, CA 90020. (213) 388-1105
Date: January 2, 2018
Cuisine: Korean
Rating: Excellent neighborhood Korean
Only 24 hours after traveling halfway across the world (on my way back from holiday) some friends summoned me out to a quick meal in K-Town. We originally wanted to go to Sun Nong Dan but there was a huge line and they don’t allow so we went next door instead.
From my cellar: NV Billecart-Salmon Champagne Brut Rosé. VM 92. Pale orange. High-pitched red berry, orange zest and jasmine aromas, with suave mineral and smoky lees notes adding complexity. Spicy and precise on the palate, showing very good punch to its strawberry and bitter cherry flavors. Opens up smoothly with air and picks up a bitter rhubarb quality that lingers onto the long, tightly focused finish. This bottling showed more brawny character than many past renditions of this cuvée, but with no lack of vivacity.
Menu on the wall.
And laminated. Lots of stews — but that’s Korean homestyle food :-).
David L brought: 2012 Deux Montille Chablis Grand Cru Les Preuses. VM 91. Subtle aromas of apple and minerals. Restrained and fresh, showing lovely cut to its sexy floral and spice flavors. Finishes with a touch of phenolic bitterness that calls for some time in bottle, but this very attractive version of Preuses has the density of material to support it. I managed to leave this very successful wine out of my Chablis coverage in the last issue.
banchan (free appetizers).
Sauce for something.
Bean sprouts.
Spicy pickled stripes of some vegetable, or maybe squid. I liked ’em.
Cucumbers.
Kimchi.
Sweet bean curd.
Spicy pickled radish.
Marinated potato. Slightly sweet.
Baby asparagus and sausage.
Spinach fried dumplings. Very hot and crispy. Nice texture, but not super exciting.
From my cellar: 2002 Maison Leroy Bourgogne-Grand-Ordinaire. 93 points. Balanced and complex. Medium body. Very nice
Spicy beef stew. A bit less sweet than next door. Beef short ribs with potatoes and rice noodle tubes. Yummy!
Spicy pork sparerib stew. Same sauce (and everything else) except for having pork ribs. A bit more “savory” and spareribby than the beef.
Yarom brought: 2008 Bisceglia Aglianico del Vulture Gudarrà Riserva. 90 points. I thought this tasted like Aglianico. It’s from Basilcata down in the very south part of Italy. A nice volcanic wine.
Spicy noodles with lots of stuff. I think they describe it as “mixed thick cold noodle.” Basically the same stuff as bibimbap but noodles instead of rice.
It got a special “hand job” (with gloves).
Here it is mixed up. Not bad at all.
Kimchi pancake. I like the Korean seafood pancakes better. This one was a little bland.
Seb brought: 2015 Caymus Cabernet Sauvignon. 92 points. SO heavy and modern — tasted like grape juice with oak and vanilla extract.
Spicy sweet and sour chicken. Not spicy at all, and very sticky, but quite delicious.
Ox bone soup with beef brisket and noodle. Very bland beef and noodle soup. Just collagen basically from cooked bones. Not my thing, but it’s “what it’s supposed to be” for this dish. I had to dump a bunch of spicy sauce in. Beef was pretty good though.
Overall, a nice casual Korean place with some variety on the menu (mostly soups and stews) and they were really really friendly. Plus they allowed wine.
Afterward we headed down the street for some rolled ice cream!